Recent reports out of southern India suggest a growing and worrisome trend of violence against Indian women at the hands of rampaging Hindu nationalists. According to witnesses, Indian women in the port city of Mangalore are being attacked by Hindu (male) zealots unhappy with their modern dress, customs and lifestyle.

Attacks have taken place in night clubs and other symbols of 21st century social mobility with victims often winding up in intensive care.

Messed up!

The trend is particularly disturbing as Mangalore was once considered one of India’s most progressive cities. Now, women are being “beaten for talking to men on public buses, in coffee shops and theatres. Young women also say they are being watched on school campuses by strangers, who aggressively warn them against talking to Muslims,” according to journalists.

Sociologists blame the violence on a rising gap between rich and poor and as an act of frustration by India’s destitute and disefranchised.

We hope the anti-woman violence ends immediately and that it serves as a wake-up call for continued programs to eradicate poverty and boost social spending in the subcontinent.

Worrisome news out of Texas. A new Republic-backed bill quietly passed Texas’ Senate today which would require voters show official IDs before their turn at the ballot box.

While the initiative is still a few rounds away from enactment, it’s raising considerable eyebrows nationwide. Its GOP backer pushed the initiative on an anti voter-fraud platform — despite assurances from Texas democrats that fraud had not been an issue in recent elections.

Texas Democrats are concerned that such a law would discourage under-represented minorities, seniors, poor folk and the physically challenged from voting.

We worry that it stinks of Jim Crow-era disenfranchisement which has no place in 2009 America.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, Zimbabwae political punk Robert Mugabe (above) has just purchased a nearly $6 million luxury apartment in the former British Colony — one of many he is said to own in the region. This comes at a time when 90 percent of his population can barely feed itself. And it gets worse: When he and his wife stayed in town last year, they spent nearly $100,000 on hotel rooms at the fancy-shmancy (and Transracial fave) Shangri-La Hotel.

Our love affair with Dubai is OVER! The glitzy emirate — soon to welcome the world’s tallest building, the Burj Dubai, above — has refused to allow Israeli tennis ace Shahar Peer into the country to compete in the upcoming WTE tournament in the desert down. Emirati authorities insisted they would permit ALL players into the country (including Israelis ) — as neighboring Qatar did. But the recent war in Gaza has apparently caused them to change their minds. Not good! While we support every effort to encourage the ISRAELI GOVERNMENT to better deal with its Arab neighbors and citizens, punishing sports figures such as Shahar only damages global good will and sets back any hope for dialogue and co-existence. Moreover, considering this recent damning report on the state of Dubai’s economy, we would think the destination would welcome any tourist willing to visit. We’ve been to Dubai before — until things change, we won’t be back!

Robert Mugabe, the evil dictator of Zimbabwe, may be literally starving his nation to death. But that is not stopping the despot from throwing one hell of an 85th birthday bash for himself later this month. If goes as planned, the Mugage fete cuold feature 2,000 bottle of champagne, 8,000 lobsters, 100 kg of prawns, 4,000 caviar servings, 3,000 ducks and 8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Yikes! No word on total cost — though reports suggest it will outprice last years $1.2 million birthday price tag. All this in a nation racked by a cholera epidemic and where 94 per cent of the population are out of work. Grim!

We’ve been super-stoked over New York Magazine since Adam Moss began editing it in 2004, which is why we were way bummed by its full-page profile of stupi-model Agness Deyn. Not only is the boring Brit fake — fake name (born Laura Hollins), fake hair (born a brunette) and (we suspect) fake nose — Deyn is beyond annoying. And apparently we’re not alone: Seems as if a recent BBC poll declared her “the most annoying person in Britain“. From the pouty, dodgy, childish behavior we witnessed first-hand late last year in Dubai, it appears as if Deyn’s dubious demeanor is truly global. No more!